I have always used both "root" as in route 66 and "rooter" as in the networking device. The latter has gotten me funny looks often, however I could not bring myself to accept the inconsistency. Today I heard "rowt" used for a path of movement by a radio presenter. Which is correct?

But, if it's "root" 66, why would anybody ever say rawter? Not only is the root word the same, but GEdgar's point is extremely well taken. These are technical people I'm dealing with. Clearly they shouldn't expect a woodworking tool when they ask me for a network appliance. Definitely Edgar makes me feel alot better about my intransigence.
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jamessonOct 7 '11 at 22:26

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@FumbleFingers I've never heard "rowter" in British English for the network device. The British English people I've worked with would probably mock any other British people who used it too.
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HugoOct 8 '11 at 5:57

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Australians add yet another variation to mix with "root" also being slang for sex... thus people tend "rowt" rather than "root" in polite company.
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lzcdNov 14 '11 at 0:34

Martin does it that way, people in some other locations do it in another way. This does not mean one is right and the other wrong.
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GEdgarOct 8 '11 at 18:32

@jamesson The question was about route, not router.
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HugoOct 8 '11 at 19:56

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In many North American dialects, including that of the Inland North, route and rout [ɹaʊt] are homophones rhyming with shout; router [ˈɹaʊɾɚ] rhymes with shouter; the root [ɹʊt] in the ground rhymes with foot and soot, just as in put and hood; but to root [ɹuːt] for one’s home team rhymes with shoot, which means that only a person who’s doing that sort of cheering would be a rooter [ˈɹuːɾɚ]. And roof is [ɹʊf], rhyming with hoof, not with proof [pʰɹuf] or prove [pʰɹuːv]. And yet, rut is [ɹʌt].
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tchristJan 8 '12 at 17:01

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Living in many places in the US, and dealing with networking equipment in all of them, I've always, always heard rowter (rhymes with "shouter") for the networking equipment. If I said "rooter" they'd wonder what I was talking about and if the toilet was stopped up.
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Matthew FrederickOct 20 '12 at 7:07

In my local dialect (Toronto, Canada), it is root for a roadway, and rowt (but that's very approximate; see Canadian raising ) for the act of specifying a path (and rowter for the computer networking device)

In the UK, route is pronounced /ru:t/, rhyming with root. On the other hand, the pronunciation /raʊt/, rhyming with shout, is rout, meaning, among many other things, various kinds of gatherings of people (as a noun) and defeat (as a verb).

It's a question of dialects. In the UK, it is pronounced as a homonym to root, as already been addressed. In America, it seems that those that pronounce it as a homonym to root are more concentrated on the east coast.

Router is spelled like ar-oh-yoo-tee-ee-ar, but you certainly don't pronounce it like that. The "root-" pronunciation isn't only for plants or hair roots. Both pronunciations are used in America, but only root in the UK, as you'll see from the other answers here, from people who learned English in different parts of the world.
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HugoMay 5 '12 at 7:47